|
Many of the businesses that anchor the state's service-based, tourist-dependent economy would be placed at a significant competitive disadvantage if Florida rejects Medicaid expansion. These include, for example, Florida's retail, restaurant and hotel chains. If Florida expands Medicaid, employers pay no penalty for low-wage workers who enroll in Medicaid. As a result, a large employer that does not provide meaningful, affordable coverage to its eligible low-wage employees will save $3,000 for each such employee that enrolls in Medicaid instead of using Premium Tax Credits in the Exchange—but only if Florida elects to expand Medicaid. > Read the report. |
|
Governor Rick Scott’s proposed 2013–14 budget looks much different than his recommendation of a year ago, when he proposed more than $2 billion in cuts to health and human services (HHS) programs. This year, the governor’s budget calls for more than a billion dollar increase in the HHS portion of the budget. The governor’s 2013–14 budget proposal has some serious shortcomings, however. Of perhaps greatest significance is what is not included, namely any indication of an intent to expand the Medicaid program to cover almost a million uninsured Florida adults under the Affordable Care Act. > Read the report. |
|
In 2009, Congress gave states the option to allow legal immigrant children to qualify for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) without enduring the five-year waiting period that applies to most public assistance programs for immigrants. During the 2012 regular session, state legislation (SB 1294) was proposed that would have exercised that option in Florida and allowed such children to qualify for coverage through Florida KidCare (which includes children's Medicaid and CHIP). SB 1294 passed unanimously out of its first committee but did not make it to final passage. This legislation (or a closely related proposal) is expected to be considered again during the 2013 session. State money is available to fund health coverage for legal immigrant children. Investment in coverage of these otherwise uninsured children will draw down an additional $43.1 million in federal funds. > Read the report. |
|
The primary claim of those opposed to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act is that the cost to the state would be prohibitive. One estimate—produced last month by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration ($2.1 billion per year)—is three times higher than its own estimate from earlier in the year and four times higher than any of the other estimates. For reasons explained in this brief, that estimate must be dismissed outright. Other state-generated estimates ($741 million, $482 million) are less unreasonable, but still deliberately incorporate assumptions that significantly inflate the cost. In fact, Medicaid expansion would increase the state's share of the total Medicaid budget by only 2 percent over the 10-year period. After factoring in the savings to the state associated with reductions in uncompensated care, the net (true) cost to the state may very well be negative. Thus, despite efforts to make the burden of Medicaid expansion seem onerous and unsustainable, in fact the opposite is true. > Read the report. |
|
Affordable Care Act opponents have expressed a desire to forgo the opportunity to expand Medicaid, ostensibly out of concern for the perceived burden on the state budget and, by extension, on Florida businesses. In reality, however, Florida's participation in Medicaid expansion would provide a significant and disproportionate benefit to employers in Florida's service industry-dominated economy. > Read the report. |
|
|
“Funding for Florida schools, universities, roads and bridges, health programs for children and the elderly, public transit, and a wide range of other public services will fall significantly if voters enact Amendment 3 on Florida's November statewide ballot. “This constitutional amendment would severely limit the amount of state revenue that the state can spend on services, using a formula that led to drastic cuts in public services in Colorado - the only state to have tried it.” The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analyzes the effects on Florida and its quality of life if Amendment 3 passes on November 6. “In short, adoption of this measure would make Florida a much less attractive place to work and live by undermining the state's ability to fulfill its current responsibilities toward its residents and make long-term investments that are fundamental to future prosperity.” Read the CBPP report. |
|
Amendment 8, the so called "Religious Freedom" constitutional amendment on the November general election ballot, could drain billions of dollars from Florida's public schools. It would rewrite the Constitution in a way that makes it easier to create a voucher program directing the use of state tax dollars to pay tuition to private schools. Neither the ballot summary that voters will see when they go to the polls, nor the language of the amendment itself, mentions public schools. But if approved by voters, Amendment 8 would have a huge negative impact on public education, reducing funding further after years of previous education budget cuts. K-12 budget cuts resulting from a universal voucher program pursuant to Amendment 8 could cost between $3.7 billion to $6.5 billion over five years, depending on how the voucher program is designed. > Read the report. |
|
Although the extension of the Medicaid safety net is now the law, some governors and others opposed to the Affordable Care Act have taken to describing it as optional. Because it has become clear that Medicaid expansion would increase the state's share of Medicaid costs by a negligible amount, opponents have been forced to try to shift the focus. In defending his intent to reject the opportunity to extend coverage to more than a million uninsured, low-income Floridians for pennies on the dollar, Governor Rick Scott has insisted that the burden of the current Medicaid program is already too onerous. One particular claim used by the Governor is that "Medicaid [spending] has been growing three and a half times as fast as General Revenue." In this brief, we examine the "statistic" behind this claim and explain how it is misleading and so inapplicable to current conditions that updating the underlying data used to derive it would yield a conclusion opposite to the one advanced by the Governor and others. The net cost to the state of extending Medicaid coverage to more than a million of the lowest-income, uninsured Floridians would be little to nothing, particularly after factoring in reductions in the cost of the delivery of "uncompensated care" in settings such as hospital emergency rooms. > Read the report. |
|
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court June decision upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in full, but nevertheless held that states could not lose funding for their existing Medicaid programs if they rejected the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, which would extend coverage to more than a million of the lowest-income, uninsured Floridians. Since then, Florida Governor Rick Scott and other ACA opponents have argued that expansion is in fact unnecessary because the needs of low-income Floridians are already being met through Florida’s existing Medicaid program. The reality, however, is different. > Read the report. |
|
Although Florida's elected leaders may have the political option of rejecting Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, actually doing so would cause serious harm to the state and its economy. Rejecting Medicaid expansion would cost Floridians $20 billion in unused federal dollars and tens of thousands of new jobs, while denying the lowest-income workers and families much-needed coverage. > Read the report. |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 7 |
